WarMuseum.ca - The Battle of Vimy Ridge April 9-12, 1917 - The First World War The Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9-12 April 1917 Tim Cook Many historians and writers consider the Canadian victory at Vimy a defining moment for Canada, when the country emerged from under the shadow of Britain and felt capable of greatness. Canadian troops also earned a reputation as formidable, effective troops because of the stunning success. But it was a victory at a terrible cost, with more than 10,000 killed and wounded. The Canadian Corps was ordered to seize Vimy Ridge in April 1917. [ Map ] Situated in northern France, the heavily-fortified seven-kilometre ridge held a commanding view over the Allied lines. The Canadians would be assaulting over an open graveyard since previous French attacks had failed with over 100,000 casualties. To capture this difficult position, the Canadians would carefully plan and rehearse their attack. To provide greater flexibility and firepower in battle, the infantry were given specialist roles as machine-gunners, rifle-men and grenade-throwers.

These same soldiers underwent weeks of training behind the lines using models to represent the battlefield, and new maps crafted from aerial photographs to guide their way. To bring men forward safely for the assault, engineers dug deep tunnels from the rear to the front. Despite this training and preparation, the key to victory would be a devastating artillery barrage that would not only isolate enemy trenches, but provide a moving wall of high explosives and shrapnel to force the Germans to stay in their deep dugouts and away from their machine-guns. "Chaps, you shall go over exactly like a railroad train, on time, or you shall be annihilated," warned Canadian Corps commander Sir Julian Byng. "In those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation." BGen A.E. Ross In the week leading up to the battle, Canadian and British artillery pounded the enemy positions on the ridge, killing and tormenting defenders. New artillery tactics allowed the gunners to first target, then destroy enemy positions. A nearly limitless supply of artillery shells and the new 106 fuse, which allowed shells to explode on contact, as opposed to burying themselves in ground, facilitated the destruction of hardened defences and barbed wire.

The Canadian infantry would be well supported when it went into battle with over 1,000 artillery pieces laying down withering, supportive fire. Attacking together for the first time, the four Canadian divisions stormed the ridge at 5:30am on 9 April 1917. More than 15,000 Canadian infantry overran the Germans all along the front. Incredible bravery and discipline allowed the infantry to continue moving forward under heavy fire, even when their officers were killed. There were countless acts of sacrifice, as Canadians single-handedly charged machine-gun nests or forced the surrender of Germans in protective dugouts. Hill 145, the highest and most important feature of the Ridge, and where the Vimy monument now stands, was captured in a frontal bayonet charge against machine-gun positions. Three more days of costly battle delivered final victory. The Canadian operation was an important success, even if the larger British and French offensive, of which it had been a part, had failed. But it was victory at a heavy cost: 3,598 Canadians were killed and another 7,000 wounded. The capture of Vimy was more than just an important battlefield victory.

For the first time all four Canadian divisions attacked together: men from all regions of Canada were present at the battle. Brigadier-General A.E. Ross declared after the war, "in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation." Vimy became a symbol for the sacrifice of the young Dominion. In 1922, the French government ceded to Canada in perpetuity Vimy Ridge, and the land surrounding it. The gleaming white marble and haunting sculptures of the Vimy Memorial , unveiled in 1936, stand as a terrible and poignant reminder of the 11,285 Canadian soldiers killed in France who have no known graves. The Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9-12 April 1917 - Google Groups The Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9-12 April 1917 Showing 1-6 of 6 messages As I type, I am watching an emotional memorial service at Vimy Ridge in Northern France, as the Vimy Ridge monument is rededicated after extensive renovations.

Vimy Ridge was a victory won at a terrible cost, with more than 10,000 killed and wounded Canadian soldiers who died to capture this high point overlooking the local countryside, after the British and French Armies had failed to take the ridge at a cost of over 100,000 casualties, ninety years ago. Four Canadians were awarded the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Vimy Ridge on one single day. Canadian troops also earned a reputation as formidable, effective troops because of their stunning success. I have been to Vimy Ridge twice and on each occasion it made a profound impression on me. The endless gravestones alone reduce many to tears. The monument to the Canadians can be seen for miles and it is in fact sovereign Canadian territory in perpetuity; a gift from the people of France. This series of pictures give some idea of the horror of WWI.

THe entire Canadian Army fought here, accompanied by Newfoundlanders as Newfoundland was at that point still a separate British colony; amd also by many native Canadians from the Cree Nation, Canada's largest Indian tribe, and inevitably, by hundreds of Gaels from all over the country who flocked to the flag and left behind a vast corpus of songs and poems about their experiences. Vimy Ridge is generally credited with being the defining experience which finally drew Canada together as a nation. These pipe tunes played by the Canadian 48th Highlanders - "The Maple Leaf Forever" and "Alberta Bound" - are associated forever with the Canadian Army's contribution in WWI. Thousands at Vimy Ridge honour Canadian valour Last Updated: Monday, April 9, 2007 | 10:53 AM ET CBC News Ceremonies spanning two continents Monday will commemorate the 90th anniversary of Canadian military forces for the first time fighting together as one unit, capturing the German-occupied Vimy Ridge in 1917 when other Allies believed the position to be impregnable.

Under clear skies in France Monday afternoon, tour buses carrying thousands of Canadians and Frenchmen made the pilgrimage to the site where 3,600 Canadian soldiers fell and another 5,000 were wounded over four days of fierce fighting. 45,000 Germans soldiers died. Canadian students wearing maple leaf face paint waved flags in honour of the historic Canadian accomplishment. But as word began to spread that six Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan Sunday, the sombre news underscored for them the cost of that great achievement. "It almost puts you in a state of having two minds certainly about war. You realize war is hell," said high school history teacher Mitch Bubulj, on a class trip at Vimy with students from Toronto's Silverthorn Collegiate Institute. "It's a sad reality that we do go to war, but it's important that we remember Canadians who were fighting in a right-minded way to maintain our freedoms and our democracy." The weekend roadside bomb attack was the worst single-day death toll for Canada's military since the operation in Afghanistan began. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was expected to make reference to that attack during Monday's ceremony at the site, which is considered to be sovereign Canadian property given to Canada from France as a gift.

Harper will be joined by French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Queen Elizabeth, who will dedicate the newly restored Vimy monument sculpted by Canadian Walter Alward. French, British failed to take ridge Both French and British military forces lost 150,000 men in attempts to take the ridge back. But the Canadians studied the 14-kilometre escarpment for months and brought together 100,000 soldiers from all four of their divisions to execute a plan involving snaking tunnels and a continuous cloud of fire that screened the troops. The battle was hailed as the first Allied success of the war, owing much to the innovative tactics of Canada's military. It also marked for many the day that Canada was born as a nation, not just a British colony. Standing before the monument's two towering stone pillars, Liberal MP Michael Ignatieff told CBC Newsworld from France that the battle of Vimy was a testament to the dogged will of Canadians. "This was a very difficult thing to do when you stand at the top of Vimy Ridge and you see the steep climb that the Canadians had to get to the top under continuous fire," he said.

'Shining example' Ignatieff said the World War One feat was a "shining example" that "if you ask Canadians to do something hard, something really difficult, they will not let you down. That's what we celebrate at Vimy." The ceremony was set to begin at 10 a.m. ET at the Vimy monument, etched with 1,100 names of missing Canadians who never had a grave. Meanwhile at Queen's Park in Ontario, Premier Dalton McGuinty presided over a Vimy ceremony at the Veterans' Memorial wall, which opened last September on the front lawn of Queen's Park. In Montreal Monday night, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion was to take part in a torchlight parade at the National Field of Honour. And in Afghanistan, Canadian troops bowed their heads and observed a moment of silence to mark the Vimy anniversary as well as the recent deaths of their six comrades in Kandahar. The Canadian National Anthem - O Canada. "The Highlander" < mic...@shaw.ca > wrote in message news:gnkk13lbsu5bfuf6c7ilaroqlottat90am@4ax.com...

> As I type, I am watching an emotional memorial service at Vimy Ridge > in Northern France, as the Vimy Ridge monument is rededicated after > extensive renovations. > Vimy Ridge was a victory won at a terrible cost, with more than 10,000 > killed and wounded Canadian soldiers who died to capture this high > point overlooking the local countryside, after the British and French > Armies had failed to take the ridge at a cost of over 100,000 > casualties, ninety years ago. Four Canadians were awarded the Victoria > Cross at the Battle of Vimy Ridge on one single day. Canadian troops > also earned a reputation as formidable, effective troops because of > their stunning success. > I have been to Vimy Ridge twice and on each occasion it made a > profound impression on me. The endless gravestones alone reduce many > to tears. I've never been to Vimy Ridge, but on two occasions I have visited the Newfoundland Memorial Park at Beaumont-Hamel. Seeing the amount of War Graves in Northern France is a very humbling experience.

Even though it was a long time before my generation was even born it brings home the stark reality of what those huge numbers represent, when you see rows and rows of these imaculate white stones maintained by the Commonwealth WAr Graves Commission. There were very many brave men, and very many sorrowing women. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. > As I type, I am watching an emotional memorial service at Vimy Ridge > in Northern France, as the Vimy Ridge monument is rededicated after > extensive renovations. > Vimy Ridge was a victory won at a terrible cost, with more than 10,000 > killed and wounded Canadian soldiers who died to capture this high > point overlooking the local countryside, after the British and French > Armies had failed to take the ridge at a cost of over 100,000 > casualties, ninety years ago. Four Canadians were awarded the Victoria > Cross at the Battle of Vimy Ridge on one single day. Canadian troops > also earned a reputation as formidable, effective troops because of > their stunning success.

Vimy is all the more amazing because it was conceived and planned by an amateur ( Arthur Currie ) whose military education was almost completely from books. Detailed briefings were provided down to the platoon level so everyone knew what was going to happen and how it all fitted together and on the day it mostly did fit quite well. IBM. Vimy, April 1917: The Birth of Which Nation? DND photo SU2007-0156-07 by Master Corporal Jill Cooper. Vimy, April 1917: The Birth of Which Nation? by Jean Martin For more information on accessing this file, please visit our help page . Introduction In 2007, Canada celebrated its 90th birthday.

At any rate, that was what was written and said in English Canada throughout that year: the famous battle of Vimy Ridge on 9 April 1917, had marked what some called “the birth of a nation.” The Canadian War Museum spoke more reservedly of “… a defining moment for Canada, when the country emerged from under the shadow of Britain and felt capable of greatness.” 1 But others unhesitatingly adopted the “birth of a nation” idea, which had first been suggested by General Alexander Ross a few years after the war. 2 Yet, the idea that, at Vimy, Canada had passed through a crucial stage of defining itself, though widespread in English Canada, was almost unheard of in Quebec. In that case, which Canada was meant? What is a Canadian? If Canada did not suddenly come into existence on the evening of the victory at Vimy Ridge, when did it appear? The territories occupied by the various Aboriginal peoples before the arrival of the Europeans will not be discussed here; sources are vague on that subject, making it next to impossible to investigate.

This article will focus on the country, or the idea of the country, constructed by the peoples of European origin who have settled on this continent since the 16th century. From the earliest days of those settlements, we are told, the French colonists who settled along the St. Lawrence valley felt that they were living in a country called Canada or Kanata. 3 Jacques Cartier is said to have been told by the two sons of Chief Donnacona, when he was bringing them back from France and they recognized the familiar surroundings of their birthplace, that they were approaching the country of Canada. Michel Brunet, in his 1954 book Canadians et Canadiens, 4 traces the origin and history of the word within the history of the country. We all know that it was the French colonists in the St. Lawrence valley who were first called “Canadians” and that the name was later recognized by the conquering British, whose allegiance was to the British Crown. The name was quickly released from its geographic limits and was soon applied to all Francophones in North America.

West of the Great Lakes, for example, a distinction was made between voyageurs of Scottish origin and Canadians, the latter term generally being used to refer to those who came from Lower Canada and spoke French. How many picturesque descriptions have we read of the “Canadian race”? Many of them were written by renowned voyageurs or members of the local British aristocracy. However, since the passing of the Quebec Act in 1791, the country had been divided into two parts: Upper Canada and Lower Canada. It was becoming inevitable that all of the country’s inhabitants, regardless of language, would be called Canadians. However, it was not until Confederation in 1867 that French-speaking Canadians lost the exclusive use of their demonym [Reference to people from a specific region – Ed.]. Brunet reminds us that other names had been suggested for the new confederation, among them “Boréalie.” 5 “If that suggestion had been accepted,” Brunet adds, “it would have done away with the source of numerous misunderstandings …” [translation]. The term “Canadian” would henceforth be applied to all the country’s inhabitants, from Atlantic to Pacific—at least officially. In actual fact, they all remained British subjects.

The Canadians at Vimy Fifty years after Confederation, who were the Canadians who carried out the attack on Vimy Ridge? They were still loyal subjects of His Majesty the King. Canadian citizenship did not exist at that time, and the approximately 100,000 men who made up the four Canadian divisions were simply part of a colonial corps of the British Army, in the same way as the Australia–New Zealand or Indian corps. Most of them did indeed come from Canada, but it would fly in the face of reality to claim that that they represented “all of Canada’s diversity.” 6 Francophones were greatly underrepresented, but that had nothing to do with the fact that French Canadians were not “good Canadians.” Indeed, when examined closely, the Canadian Corps at Vimy may not appear very Canadian in its composition. We have a report on the make-up of the Canadian Corps in October 1917, before the addition of conscripts but already six months after Vimy Ridge. 7 More than 55 percent of the soldiers had been born outside of Canada, the vast majority of them in Great Britain.

And no doubt a large number of those who were born in Canada had uncles or aunts, a grandfather or grandmother, or even a brother or sister still living in Great Britain. It is not surprising that these men, who were still English and Scottish at heart, if not by birth, heeded their country’s call in August 1914 and enlisted in large numbers. It is no more surprising that the province of Quebec provided only 9 percent of the Canadian soldiers who served overseas during the war, far below Quebec’s 28 percent of Canada’s entire population. The reason was that the sons of England and Scotland were much less numerous in Quebec than in the other provinces. When we look only at the volunteers born in Canada, it becomes clear that French Canadians must have represented about 21% of the total, a respectable contribution under the circumstances. 8 CEC in October 1917 436,806 100.00% After all, it is normal for young men with close relatives in Great Britain to feel more involved when that country calls upon them to take up arms in its defence.

It has often been said in English Canada that the Québécois should have felt involved too, since France was under an even more direct threat. But that is to misunderstand French-Canadian history and culture. For French Canadians, France is the country of their ancestors, not that of their close relatives. In 1917, most French Canadians were descended from people who had been in Canada for many generations. They did not feel the connection to France that an English immigrant or the son of an English immigrant might have with Great Britain. By analogy, the English may well have had distant ancestors who came from Lower Saxony or the Frisian coast, but I doubt that many of them would have wanted to fight for Germany in 1914 because it was the country of their ancestors. What many English Canadians do not realize is that, by 1917, most French Canadians longer felt any connection with France. On the other hand, most English Canadians were—whether in their hearts, according to their official status, or still very often by birth—British.

One might be tempted to think that in 1914 Anglophone and Francophone Canadians were equally disposed to take up arms in defence of their country, the country of their fathers and grandfathers, but the fact is that for the former, that country was Great Britain, and for the latter, it was Canada. Compiled and drawn by Historical Section G.S., Map 7, Vimy Ridge, Library and Archives Canada. The Meaning of Vimy Vimy was indeed a great victory for the Canadian Corps. The objective was important, the preparation was painstaking, and the operation was almost a total success. The death toll was high, but close to what had been predicted. Was it one of the great battles of the war? Not in the sense in which historians generally understand it, but all the same it was an important, and certainly the most successful, phase of the Battle of Arras. Was it the greatest victory ever achieved by Canadian troops? At the time, very probably, but the Canadians would have many other successes after it, some of which had at least as important an influence on the outcome of the war.

Vimy occurred at a turning point in the war: the retreat of the Russians, which was more than made up for by the arrival of the Americans, and the beginning of a more offensive strategy on the part of the Allies, supported by their superior equipment, that would become more and more overwhelming. But the fact that the tide began to turn at around the time of Vimy was almost a coincidence, and it does not explain why the battle acquired such importance in Canadians’ memory. At the end of the war, Vimy was still far from acquiring the weighty symbolic value it has today. It was not forgotten, but it was somewhat eclipsed by the virtually uninterrupted series of victories achieved by the Canadians in the final three months of the war as they pressed on toward Germany. In his 1920 article “The Growth of Canadian National Feeling,” W.S.

Wallace wrote: “In the Great War the maple leaf badge came to be recognized as the symbol of a strong national spirit which never failed before any task with which it was confronted, and which contributed in a substantial measure to the breaking down of the German defences in the latter half of 1918.” 9 The importance of the military contribution in defining national feeling was underlined, but the emphasis was placed on the final push to victory in 1918, not on the April 1917 victory at Vimy. The four years spent sharing suffering and honour in the trenches of Belgium and northern France undoubtedly contributed to creating a very solid esprit de corps among the Canadian soldiers. Surely, during those four years, a very large number of those young men who had enlisted to serve in the British Army gradually began to feel more and more Canadian. But esprit de corps is not the same thing as a new citizenship. The two are not mutually exclusive, however.

Just as a contemporary soldier who develops a strong sense of belonging to the Royal 22e Régiment does not stop seeing himself or herself as a member of the Canadian Forces, a Canadian soldier in 1918 remained a loyal subject of His Majesty the King, but his newfound pride in being Canadian did not lead him to contest his status as a British subject. In fact, the two went very well together in many people’s minds, and it may even be that the hope of finally being recognized as the equal of soldiers from the old country often trumped the pride of belonging to one of its colonies. The Legend of Vimy It was only a few years after the war that Vimy began to acquire the symbolic value it has today. That value would be defined slowly over a long evolution in time, and a few of the steps in that evolution are worthy of mention. The first step was taken in the early 1920s, when the decision was made to construct a memorial in Europe to honour the memory of Canadian soldiers killed during the Great War.

Four locations were considered for the monument: (1) the area around Ypres, Belgium, where Canadian troops had fought some of their most difficult battles, (2) the Somme, the theatre where the Canadians achieved their first real successes, (3) Vimy, where the four Canadian divisions had come together to launch their first victorious attack, and (4) the Canal du Nord, the central point of the push to victory known as the “hundred days” at the end of the war. Vimy was chosen for a number of reasons; some are well known, and with respect to others, we can only guess. Prime Minister Mackenzie King seems to have played an important role in the choice. He mentioned several times in his diary that the French government would never have ceded the 250 acres of land without his personal efforts, and in 1935, he was still hoping that someday the value of those efforts would be recognized. 10 How was Vimy chosen as the location for the monument? It has been said that Vimy was a “unanimous” choice because it was the site of “the most important battle fought by the Canadian Corps.” 11 However, the choice was probably not so obvious.

Although Vimy represented an important event in the history of the Canadian Corps, it was far from being the only one. The process leading up to the selection of Vimy as the memorial site is quite well known, but the reasons behind the choice are less known. In 1919, the Imperial War Graves Commission granted Canada eight sites to honour the memory of its soldiers. Five of the sites are in northern France: Vimy, Dury, Bourlon Wood, Courcelette, and Bois de l’Hôpital. Three are in Belgium: Saint-Julien, Passchendaele, and Sanctuary Wood (Hill 62) near Ypres. The French and Belgian governments granted Canada some form of rights over the land in question, and a competition was held to produce a model for a monument to be erected on seven of the sites, with the eighth to be reserved for a national memorial, much more imposing than the others, that would bear the names of the missing Canadian soldiers who were presumed to have died during the conflict.

This grand monument was originally supposed to be built on the site of Hill 62, near the town of Ypres, in Belgium, but it was finally decided that “Vimy would be a more suitable point.” 12 Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen, Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Currie, CWM 19710261-0539, Beaverbrook Collection of War Art, ï¿½ Canadian War Museum. Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Currie, who commanded the Canadian Corps from June 1917 until 1919. Reasons other than the importance of the battle could have been behind the choice. For one thing, the British had already decided that the Menin Gate, at the entrance to the town of Ypres, would be the site of a major memorial for their soldiers who had been killed in Belgium and had no known grave. They had invited the other Commonwealth countries to participate, and all except New Zealand accepted. Canada was to inscribe on the monument the names of some 5000 Canadians who had died in Belgium during the war.

It then seemed logical to build another monument in France on which to inscribe the names of the 11,000 Canadians who had died in that country but had no known grave. When that idea was suggested, the Vimy site immediately attracted all the attention because of its physical characteristics as well as its location. The mass of the ridge itself would make the scale of the planned monument even more impressive; there was no other location where the Canadian memorial would have so overwhelmingly dominated the landscape. In addition, Vimy was conveniently located in an area with relatively easy access compared to the other above-mentioned Canadian memorial sites: it was only an hour’s drive from Ypres, and less than an hour away from any of the other sites. On the other hand, Ypres, where the Canadians had fought long and hard, and where they had experienced some of their most glorious and most difficult hours, was farther north and more isolated. Vimy was also about halfway between Lens and Arras, two towns where visitors could find accommodations close to the centre of their pilgrimage.

Last, but not least, Prime Minister Mackenzie King spoke very enthusiastically of Vimy as “one of earth’s altars” 13 and stated that it was thanks to “my suggestion & my efforts” 14 that France had ceded the land at Vimy to Canada. The second important step in the consecration of the Vimy site was the unveiling of the monument in July 1936. As soon as the date of the unveiling was announced, a campaign was launched by the national president of the Canadian Legion, Brigadier-General (retired) Alex Ross, to organize a massive pilgrimage for the veterans. Six thousand four hundred of them boarded five ships in the port of Montreal, and they were joined in France by almost 1,400 more from Great Britain. Therefore, about 18% of the Canadian veterans who attended the unveiling of the Vimy memorial in 1936 were probably still residents of Great Britain. “The pilgrims had travelled thousands of miles to attend a ceremony on Vimy Ridge, and to hundreds of them the deciding factor was the announcement that King Edward would preside.” 15 The sense of belonging to Great Britain was apparently still an important factor in the new Canadian pride.

The veterans’ pilgrimage included the sites of all their great battles, but with the unveiling of the gigantic monument, Vimy became the focal point of Canadians’ memory of the First World War. The third stage in the process occurred in 1967, when Canada celebrated the 100th anniversary of Confederation and the 50th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge. The coincidence was too inviting, and it would be consecrated in the mind of the venerable General Ross, who was by then 86 years of age. In the preface to a book which attributed almost as much importance to the 1936 pilgrimage as to the story of the 1917 battle, the former president of the Canadian Legion wrote of the assault on the morning of April 9: “It was Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific on parade. I thought then that in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation.” 16 The phrase had made its first appearance. As far as we know, the battle had never been so directly identified as the birth of a nation. All writers who repeat the phrase today are inevitably referring to Ross’s use of it, even if they do not always cite the source.

17 Jonathan Vance, who recently published an interesting study of interwar poetry about Vimy Ridge, also takes up the theme of that battle being the birth of a nation, but he is unable to produce a single quotation to justify the assertion. 18 The poems emphasize courage, suffering, victory and even national pride (sometimes local pride too), but a nation’s pride is not necessarily associated with its birth. In celebrating Vimy, we celebrate a great accomplishment of the Canadian nation, not its birth. The first reference to the birth of a new nation is actually found in the speech given by Cabinet minister Ernest Lapointe during the inauguration of the monument in 1936. However, Lapointe did not state that the Canadian nation was born at Vimy. Rather, he suggested that a new nation had already been formed from the marriage of the English and French peoples and that Vimy represented the zenith of its achievements. Such achievements presupposed that Canada had passed through the birth stage long ago.

Lord Byng of Vimy, the commander of the Canadian Corps at Vimy Ridge, who later became Canada’s Governor General, merely stated that the nine provinces had launched the attack on the ridge “… side by side, animated and united by a common ideal.” 19 The idea of a nation united in combat had not yet become that of the emerging nation that General Ross, carried away by the excitement of the 1967 Centennial, launched decades later. Memory and Mythology A fourth step, as well as a series of subsequent ones, was taken when the myth was kept alive on each anniversary of the battle, such as the 90th in 2007. That year, English Canada saw a wave of ceremonies, newspaper articles, and television and radio programs related to Vimy, but there was barely a ripple in Quebec. A large pilgrimage like the one in 1936 was organized for a second inauguration of the monument, which had just been restored, and once again much was made of the theme of the defining moment for the Canadian nation. That theme, which, as we have seen, developed long after the battle, is becoming more and more firmly established with every passing year.

Each time General Ross’s words are repeated, we become a bit more firmly convinced that they actually reflect the general state of mind on the day of the battle. The legend has become a myth, and it has become more and more difficult to question the battle itself. Historians who have perpetuated the idea of the birth of a nation have generally supported it with a fairly careful logical argument. The Confederation created in 1867 was still considered a British colony and had no real existence internationally. It was the actions of the Canadians on the battlefields of Europe, magnificently illustrated by the victory at Vimy, that earned Canada the right to sit at the negotiating table with the Europeans and the Americans once the war ended, thus affirming for the first time its status as a nation on the international scene. Vimy had thus enabled Canada to be recognized as a nation by its peers. Despite the flaws in this reasoning, it at least has the merit of being limited to international recognition, emphasizing the emergence rather than the birth of a nation.

However, popular opinion is often oblivious to such subtleties, and in 2007, the image of Canadians of all origins, who had come from all parts of Canada, Atlantic to Pacific, who suddenly formed a great, united nation on 9 April 1917, was still widespread. But to state that the Canadian nation was born amidst the violence of battle in 1917 is to deny the existence of a Canadian nation that predated it. The Canadian nation said to have been born at Vimy could therefore not be that of the new arrivals, a reinvented nation that rose from the ashes of another that people wanted to forget. It is probably no accident that the individual who finally formalized that idea in the phrase he used in 1967 was himself an immigrant to this country whose history he did not acknowledge. Brigadier-General Alexander Ross was born in Scotland in 1880 and immigrated to the future province of Saskatchewan with his family when he was six years old. When the war broke out in 1914, Ross, who was already serving in the militia, was appointed as a recruiting officer.

At the time that the 28th Battalion, which he helped recruit in Saskatchewan and would later command in France, was formed, 80 percent of its soldiers were, like him, born in Great Britain. Given his background, it is easy to imagine that, in the immediate aftermath of the victory at Vimy, this native of Scotland who had grown up on the great northwestern plains would have considered himself the equal of the long-established Canadians back east. For new Canadians like him, it was the birth of a new nation. And often it is still that new nation, created by the blending of the cultures of all the new Canadians, that is being presented today when Vimy is referred to as the birth of a nation. The Ottawa Citizen, like many other major newspapers in English Canada, published a series of articles in the weeks leading up to the large-scale celebrations in April 2007. The paper had brought together a group of new Canadians which it described as being of all origins and had them reflect on and debate the importance and significance of the battle.

They were taken to visit museums, met with historians and had discussions with senators, and their reactions were published in the print edition of the Citizen and also on an impressive website created for the occasion. Naturally, no Francophone was included among those Canadians of all origins who had been invited to participate in the discussions. Even though Ottawa is just a bridge length away from Quebec, and thousands of Franco-Ontarians live in the region, it was not considered important to invite a single French Canadian to join the discussion of the Canadian nation whose great event was being celebrated. Mr. Richard Jack, The Taking of Vimy Ridge, Easter Monday 1917, CWM 19710261-0160, Beaverbrook Collection of War Art, ï¿½ Canadian War Museum. The Taking of Vimy Ridge, Easter Monday 1917, by Richard Jack. Conclusion The battle of Vimy Ridge has nothing to do with the birth of the Canadian nation.

A reasonable case could be made that it was an important event in Canada’s history, but to claim that the nation was born on 9 April 1917, on the Artois plains is to deny more than three centuries of history during which the ancestors of millions of Canadians devoted their lives to building this country. If Canada was born in the trenches of France and Belgium between 1915 and 1918, it was only in the minds of a few thousand soldiers who had very shallow roots there. In the minds of most of its inhabitants, Canada had already existed for a long time. The myth that Vimy represents the birth of a nation is a relatively recent invention. Despite the battle’s importance, the choice of the site for the great Canadian memorial after the war was far from obvious. The myth sprang from the erection of that monument and the attraction it exerted later. One might wonder whether the battles of Passchendaele or Hill 62 would be regarded as more important as founding events of the Canadian nation if the principal memorial had been built there, as had once been considered. It was the grand memorial erected at Vimy that served as a focal point for Canadians’ memories of the First World War.

20 All the other Canadian monuments look insignificant by comparison, and the importance of the battle quickly came to be judged by that of the monument commemorating it. Yet, as we have seen, the choice of the Vimy site in 1922 was based as much upon practical concerns as on any historical foundation; Vimy was an important battle, but it was also more convenient and efficient to build the primary Canadian war memorial there. Symbols can both unite and divide a nation. It is just as important to recognize their value as to avoid distorting their meaning. The true intention behind the Vimy memorial was to honour the soldiers who fell defending their country. To perpetuate that memory is a duty, but to try to turn it into a symbol of the birth of a nation is an affront to everyone who believes that the building of that nation had begun long before the First World War. Vimy is one of the rare important military monuments that does not exult in victory; it is there only to honour the memory of the victims of a conflict in which the death toll had been appallingly high and which it was hoped at the time would be the war to end all wars. As a symbol, Vimy has its importance in Canadian history.

We heard new Canadians declare during the 2007 celebrations that they felt more Canadian after being told the story of Vimy or after visiting the monument on site. That is an honourable sentiment, but there are other national symbols that deserve attention. Why, for example, could we not hear more often from new Canadians who feel more Canadian once they learn to communicate in both of the country’s official languages? Mr. Georges Bertin Scott, Unveiling the Vimy Ridge Monument, CWM 19670070-014, Beaverbrook Collection of War Art, ï¿½ Canadian War Museum. Unveiling the Vimy Ridge Monument, 1937, by Georges Bertin Scott. Jean Martin is a historian with the Directorate of History and Heritage at National Defence Headquarters and is responsible for the official history of Canada’s participation in the first United Nations Emergency Force (1956–1967) in Egypt. He also has an interest in military geography and the defence of Canada’s territory during World War II. Mr. Martin is organizing a conference on military relations between Canada and France after 1760, to take place in 2011.

Notes Tim Cook, Canadian War Museum website. There is some confusion about the origin of the expression. Some sources attribute it to Brigadier-General Arthur Edward Ross, who commanded the Canadian medical service during the First World War, but it actually originated with Brigadier-General Alexander Ross, who commanded the 28th Battalion at Vimy Ridge before being promoted to command the 6th Infantry Brigade. It is not important to engage here in a debate on the origin, meaning or spelling of the word. The point is to recognize how old is the idea. Michel Brunet, Canadians et Canadiens (Paris: Fides, 1954). After all, the name “Australia” had been given to the large federation in the southern hemisphere. Some Americans and some British residents enlisted in Canadian units. Quoted in Desmond Morton, When Your Number’s Up: The Canadian Soldier in the First World War, (Toronto: Random House, 1993). According to A.F. Duguid, Official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War, 1914–1919, Vol.

1: From the Outbreak of War to the Formation of the Canadian Corps, August 1914–September 1915, (Ottawa: King's Printer, 1947), more than 50,000 soldiers from Quebec served overseas during the First World War. If we assume that 10,000 to 15,000 of them were Anglophones, but that a few thousand Francophones from other provinces also fought, that means that approximately 21 percent of members of Canadian origin (194,473) who were part of the Canadian Expeditionary Corps (436,806) up until October 1917 were “French Canadians.” W.S. Wallace, “The Growth of Canadian National Feeling,” in Canadian Historical Review, Vol. 1, No. 2 (June 1920), p. 138. Various references in King’s diaries from 1922 and 1928, and this one from February 6, 1935: “…also was glad to see reference to purchase of Vimy Ridge property by the Govt.

of France & given to Canada—my part in that too will be restored some day.” Debates of the House of Commons, First session of the Fourteenth Parliament, 12-13 George V, 1922, p. 2098, comment of the member from East Hamilton, Major-General Sidney Chelton Mewburn: “The unanimous opinion was that the large memorial ought to go to Vimy. Many of the army officers held that Vimy was by no means the most important battle fought by the Canadian Corps.” “Vimy would be a more suitable point.” Ibid., p. 2100. “[O]ne of earth’s altars.” Diary of Mackenzie King, 26 April 1922. He uses the phrase again in the House one month later (Debates …, p. 2099, 22 May 1922), with a slight variation: “… one of the world’s greatest altars.” “[I]t was my suggestion & subsequently my effort which secured the plot of ground (six miles around) which is now the property of the Govt.

of Canada in Europe.” Diary of Mackenzie King, 5 October 1928. D.E. Macintyre, Canada at Vimy (Toronto: Peter Martin & Associates, 1967), p. 187. Ibid., p. viii. It is often stated that the phrase was that of Brigadier-General Ross, who had been at Vimy, as if the image had come to him on the day of the battle, when in fact he did not express it until half a century later. Jonathan Vance, “Battle Verse: Poetry and Nationalism after Vimy Ridge,” in Geoffrey Hayes, Andrew Iarocci and Mike Bechthold, (eds.), Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment (Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2007), pp. 265–278. “[S]ide by side, animated and united by a common ideal.” Quoted in David C. Inglis, “Vimy Ridge, 1917–1992: A Canadian Myth over Seventy-Five Years” (Simon Fraser University, Master’s thesis, 1995), p. 55.

For David Inglis, “Vimy Ridge seems to be a concentration of the war experience into a single, remarkable event and as such has become a powerful symbol or myth.” Inglis, p. 2. The Battle of Vimy Ridge - History Learning Site The Battle of Vimy Ridge Citation: C N Trueman "The Battle of Vimy Ridge" historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 17 Apr 2015. 16 Aug 2016. Vimy Ridge achieved fame in 1917. World War One witnessed a number of battles on the Western Front that have gone down in history. The Somme, Ypres and Vimy Ridge are among these. Five major battles were fought around the town of Arras during World War One. This was because the town had an important railroad junction in it and if the Germans controlled it, the rail line could be used to help supply her troops. If the Allies controlled the rail junction, they could supply their own men. Vimy Ridge is about 10 miles north of Arras and it was considered an important strategic area.

Both the French and Germans wished to control it as it gave an army height in that area. The photo below shows the height advantage Vimy Ridge. The Germans captured Vimy Ridge in October 1914. Vimy Ridge However, Vimy Ridge won fame for the battle fought there in April 1917. The commander of the British Forces in France, Sir Douglas Haig, ordered an attack on Vimy Ridge. His major target was Ypres (Ieper) but he could not attack Ypres without first re-capturing Vimy Ridge. The attack on Vimy Ridge started on April 9th 1917. The Germans were cleared from their trenches but between April and May a series of violent attacks took place. It was at this battle that Canadian troops won much praise for their bravery and success in keeping Vimy Ridge for the Allies. In places, the Canadian and German soldiers were less than 25 metres from one another on the front line trenches. The Canadians dug a series of underground tunnels to allow their soldiers to move to the battle zone more easily. A huge number of artillery shells were fired into the area around Vimy Ridge. Many did not explode and remain dangerous to this day.

The battlefield is still pockmarked with shell craters The red sign is very clear in its instruction : “Danger. No entry. Unexploded explosives.” Vimy Ridge is surrounded by such signs and hundreds of similar craters – over 80 years after the battle – such was the intensity of the battle. A vast memorial now stands at Vimy Ridge to commemorate the 10,000 Canadian men who died in this battle – nearly 10% of their forces in the area. The original memorial put up for the Canadians who lost their lives at the 1917 battle at Vimy Ridge was a lot less grand than the one there today. It was always going to be temporary until it was replaced. This memorial is now in Quebec, Canada. The original Vimy Ridge memorial now in Quebec Vimy Foundation | Page 2 The 2017 Vimy Centennial Celebration Dinner : We are excited to announce that the 2017 Vimy Centennial Celebration Dinner will take place on Monday March 20, 2017 at the Arcadian Court in Toronto.

The proceeds of the dinner will go towards two important Vimy Centennial Legacy initiatives described below: The Vimy Foundation Centennial Park will be located adjacent to the Vimy monument in France. This unique area will be comprised of 100 Vimy Oak trees (direct descendants of acorns collected following the battle in April 1917) as well as benches and reflective areas in full view of the famous monument. The Vimy Centennial Legacy Fund will ensure that outstanding young Canadians continue to be inspired by our history at Vimy Ridge and other First World War sites. Our fundraising goal of $500,000 will help send 25 students to travel to Europe each year for the next five years and ensure our youth ‘walk through the footsteps of history’ and experience Canadian history first hand. At Vimy Ridge, nearly 100 years ago, 100,000 Canadian soldiers gathered for the first time as a united fighting force. Commanded in part by Canadian officers, they achieved the unachievable and took one of the most heavily defended German positions of the entire Western front. It is said by many historians that at Vimy Ridge, Canada emerged from a colony to become a nation.

It was not simply a battle – it was Canada’s coming of age. The Vimy Foundation was established to preserve and to promote Canada’s entire First World War legacy, through its educational programs for Canadian students and its awareness building activities. HONORARY CHAIR General (Ret’d) Rick Hillier, OC, ONL, CMM, MSC, CD HONORARY CO-CHAIRS Lieutenant-General (Hon.) Richard Rohmer, OC, CMM, DFC, O.Ont, KStJ, CD, OfL, QC, BA, JD, LL.D, DScMil, Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur Honorary Colonel (Ret’d) Sally Horsfall Eaton, SSStJ, CD, RN, LL.D. Honorary Colonel Blake Goldring, MSM, LL.D. Honorary Colonel Jim Leech, CM Christopher Sweeney | Chair, Vimy Foundation Interested in Sponsorship, Tables, and Tickets for the 2017 Vimy Centennial Celebration Dinner? Please contact Karen I. Miller, Dinner / Fundraising Director. Phone (416) 224-9990 or email kim.inc@kimfundraising.com .

Battle of Vimy Ridge - Historical Sheets - The First World War - History - Remembrance - Veterans Affairs Canada Veterans Affairs Canada The Battle of Vimy Ridge Introduction Details Canadian machine gunners dig themselves in, in shell holes on Vimy Ridge. April 1917, Vimy Ridge, France. (Photo: Department of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada PA-001017) Close PDF Version The decades since the Battle of Vimy Ridge have slipped by, but the legacy of the Canadians who accomplished so much in that pivotal First World War battle lives on. Many say that Canada came of age as a country on those hard April days in 1917. The First World War The First World War was the largest conflict the world had ever seen up until that time. It came about due to the political tensions and complex military alliances in Europe at the time. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in the summer of 1914 resulted in an international crisis that brought Europe into war. By August, the fighting had begun. This bloody four-year war would see Britain (and her Empire), France and Russia lining up against Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Canada Goes to War In 1914, Canada was considered a part of the British Empire. This meant that once Britain declared war, Canada also was automatically at war. The First World War opened with great enthusiasm and patriotism on the part of Canadians, with tens of thousands rushing to join the military in the first months of the conflict so they would not miss the action. They need not have worried. The war would grind on for more than four years, killing more than ten million people in fighting that would be revolutionized by high-explosive shells, powerful machine guns, poison gas, submarines and war planes. The Western Front After the initial German advances of the war, the battle on the Western Front quickly turned into a stalemate of trench fighting, with the front line zigzagging for nearly 1,000 kilometres from the coast of Belgium to the border of Switzerland. Life for soldiers in the trenches was miserable. They were often muddy and cold and had to share their trenches with rats. In this form of warfare, soldiers faced the enemy across a narrow strip of land between the opposing trenches.

This was a harsh “No Man’s Land” of mud, barbed wire and shell craters, swept by enemy machine gun fire, and menaced by artillery and snipers. This is what soldiers had to cross when they went “over the top” of the trenches and launched an attack. The dead and injured who fell in No Man’s Land often could not be recovered. By the spring of 1917, Europe had been at war for more than two-and-a-half years, with neither side being able to make significant gains. As part of an Allied offensive, a major attack was planned for April in the area of Arras, France. In this attack, the Canadians would be tasked with capturing Vimy Ridge. Preparation for Battle Vimy Ridge is located in northern France, about 175 kilometres north of Paris. It is a long, high hill that dominates the landscape. Germany captured Vimy Ridge early in the war and transformed it into a strong defensive position, with a complex system of tunnels and trenches manned by highly-trained soldiers with machine guns and artillery pieces.

Previous Allied assaults on Vimy Ridge in 1914 and 1915 had cost the British and French hundreds of thousands of casualties and had been largely unsuccessful. The Canadians moved to the front lines across from Vimy Ridge in late autumn 1916. The Battle of Vimy Ridge would be the first time all four divisions of the Canadian Corps worked together as one formation. The planning and preparations for the battle were extensive. They spent the entire winter strengthening the lines, preparing for the assault on Vimy. The Canadians were trained rigorously. Models of the trench systems were built and the soldiers drilled on what they were to do. They also raided German positions to gather intelligence on enemy defences. Extensive “mining” operations were undertaken in which the Allies dug tunnels beneath the German lines and set huge explosives to be detonated when the time for the attack came. Elaborate tunnel systems with train tracks, piped water, lights, and huge underground bunkers to stockpile supplies and arms were also established to aid the Canadians in the battle. To soften defences in preparation for the attack, Canadians made a massive and prolonged artillery barrage.

The heaviest shelling was spread over a week in order not to tip off the Germans of exactly when the assault would take place. More than a million shells rained down during what the Germans called the “Week of Suffering.” Even the early military aircraft of the day played a role in the battle by sweeping enemy aircraft and observation balloons from the skies. Battle of Vimy Ridge The Battle of Vimy Ridge began at 5:30 a.m. on Easter Monday, April 9, 1917. The first wave of 20,000 Canadian soldiers, each carrying up to 36 kilograms of equipment, attacked through the wind-driven snow and sleet into the face of deadly machine gun fire. The Canadians advanced behind a “creeping barrage.” This precise line of intense artillery fire advanced at a set rate and was timed to the minute. The Canadian infantrymen followed the line of explosions closely. This allowed them to capture German positions in the critical moments after the explosions but before the enemy soldiers emerged from the safety of their underground bunkers. Battalions in the first waves of the assault suffered great numbers of casualties, but the Canadian assault proceeded on schedule.

Most of the heavily-defended ridge was captured by noon. Hill 145, as the main height on the ridge was called, was taken on the morning of April 10. Two days later, the Canadians took “the Pimple,” as the other significant height on the ridge was called. The Germans were forced to withdraw three kilometres and the Battle of Vimy Ridge was over. The Allies now commanded the heights overlooking the Douai Plain, an occupied portion of France that was still controlled by Germany. The Canadian Corps, together with the British Corps to the south, had captured more ground, prisoners and guns than any previous British offensive of the war. Canadians would act with courage throughout the battle. Four Canadians would earn the Victoria Cross, our country’s highest medal for military valour, for separate actions in which they captured enemy machine gun positions. They were: Private William Milne, Lance-Sergeant Ellis Sifton, Captain Thain MacDowell and Private John Pattison. Sacrifice Bringing in wounded Canadian soldiers from the battlefield. April 1917, Vimy Ridge, France.

(Photo: Library and Archives Canada PA-001125) Close The Battle of Vimy Ridge would prove a great success, but it would come at great cost. The 100,000 Canadians who fought there suffered approximately 11,000 casualties, nearly 3,600 of them fatal. By the end of the First World War, Canada, a country of less than eight million citizens, would have more than 650,000 servicemen. The conflict took a huge toll with more than 66,000 Canadians losing their lives and 170,000 being wounded. The Legacy At Vimy Ridge, regiments from coast to coast saw action together in a distinctly Canadian triumph, helping create a new and stronger sense of Canadian identity in our country. Canada’s military achievements during the war raised our international stature and helped earn us a separate signature on the Treaty of Versailles that ended the war. Today, on land granted to Canada for all time by a grateful France, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial sits atop Hill 145, rising above the now quiet surrounding countryside.

This great monument is inscribed with the names of 11,285 Canadian soldiers who were listed as “missing, presumed dead” in France. It stands as a tribute to all who served their country in battle and risked or gave their lives in the war and paid such a price to help ensure the peace and freedom we enjoy today. Canada Remembers Program The Canadian Light Horse going into action at Vimy Ridge. April 1917, Vimy Ridge, France. (Photo: W.I. Castle/Department of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada PA-001111) Close The Canada Remembers Program of Veterans Affairs Canada encourages all Canadians to learn about the sacrifices and achievements made by those who have served—and continue to serve—during times of war and peace. As well, it invites Canadians to become involved in remembrance activities that will help preserve their legacy for future generations.

Most Canadians don’t know Vimy Ridge was a WWI battle, new poll shows Most Canadians don’t know Vimy Ridge was a WWI battle, new poll shows Steve Mertl Pin it Share It's not news anymore that many Canadians are woefully ignorant of this country's history, but there's something disconcerting about a new poll that finds a lot of us know little about a pivotal moment in Canada's emergence as a nation. I'm talking about Vimy Ridge. And if you're asking yourself, "What's Vimy Ridge," I'm talking about you. The poll by Ipsos Reid for the Vimy Foundation suggests that while four out of five Canadians knew it was a famous battle, only 47 per cent of those surveyed knew it took place in the First World War. Two out of five put it in the Second World War and the rest guessed anything from the Korean War, Boer War, Afghanistan and even the Northwest Rebellion (extra points for knowing what that was). “It’s disappointing that a seminal moment in our history like the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the centennial that is a few years away just doesn’t have that click in people’s minds,” foundation campaign manager Jeremy Diamond told the National Post.

Historians generally agree the battle, fought on April 9, 1917, was a defining moment of Canada's development of an independent nation. [ Related: The best way to mark Vimy Ridge is to pass on its significance ] It marked the first time a Canadian army made up of four divisions fought together under Canadian command. Almost 3,600 Canadians died in capturing a crucial German position that previously resisted all other Allied efforts to overcome. The victory was credited largely to the innovative preparation by Canadian units and commanders' diligence in ensuring even the smallest units had a clear understanding of the objectives. The ridge became the site of the iconic Vimy Ridge war memorial on land France ceded to Canada. The Ipsos Reid poll found two-thirds of those surveyed knew Vimy Ridge was a watershed for Canada's identity. But some (18 per cent) thought it was connected to Canada joining the United Nations and a few believed it led to the writing of O Canada. The online poll was conducted between March 14-18 and is considered accurate within plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, according to Ipsos Reid.

Older poll respondents were more likely to know the correct answers to the questions, with Canadians in the 18-34 range most in the dark. Diamond said younger people probably feel more disconnected from the battle. “We of course don’t have any living First World War veterans anymore. So that living link to this time in our history is gone,” he told the Post. “Those stories just don’t exist [anymore]. And so as a result, to many people it probably feels like it’s 200 or 300 years ago instead of only 100.” [ Related: Vimy Ridge's shock and awe remembered ] Only Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and Nova Scotia school systems have mandatory history classes, though Diamond observed that doesn't necessarily translate into better knowledge. For instance, the poll found Quebecers (55 per cent) were least likely to know Vimy Ridge was a famous battle. Apparently 24 per cent thought it was a ski slope at the Sochi Olympics and 16 per cent agreed it was a mountain range. Just over a third correctly pinned it as a First World War battle. We shouldn't blame our schools completely, anyway.

I believe a knowledge of Canada's history is an essential component of citizenship. While schools can plant the seed, it's up to us to discover how our country came to be. The foundation commissioned the poll as it embarks on a campaign to increase Canadians' knowledge as the battle's centennial year approaches. Diamond told the Post he hopes at least three-quarters will be better informed by this time in 2017. Reblog

Question: In which country is Vimy Ridge, site of a battle in April 1917?
Answer: Fracne